Guess How Poorly the Music Industry Did This Year

The year-end numbers are in for the industry, and — they are as depressing as they have been for the majority of the last decade. Overall, sales fell 12.8 percent, to 326.2 million units from 373.9 million last year; CD sales specifically fell by 20 percent. Perhaps more disheartening: Digital sales of individual tracks, ostensibly the industry's savior, increased by only one percent. Now you see why the effortlessly multiplatinum Taylor Swift is smirking. [Billboard]

But we noticed you're visiting us with an ad blocker

We understand the reasons for blocking, but Vulture depends on ads to pay our writers and editors. We're working hard to improve the ad experience on our site, but in the mean time, we'd really appreciate it if you added us to the approved list in your ad blocker. Thanks for the support!